1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved container, which can be selectively used as a cooler or warmer for food and beverages. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable container having one or more characteristics that adapt it for use in a motor vehicle and/or dorm room, facilitate its assembly and repair, and/or facilitate its efficient operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coolers are typically in the form of an insulated container which has walls upstanding from a base to define a top opening to which a removable cover is mounted. Thus, such coolers are typically rectangular with two sidewalls and two end walls, and have a pivotal handle assembly mounted to each end wall for carrying the cooler. As such, conventional coolers are intended to be disposed solely on the bottom or back wall, and the lid, whether or not hinged along one edge, is simply interlocked with the container by a friction fit and/or by engagement with pivotally mounted locking carrying handles which selectively engage and hold the lid on the container.
Typically coolers of the type described above are used as ice chests. Thus, when the food and/or beverages are to be kept cool, they are placed in the container and ice is added to the container to keep the food cool. Such ice chests have a number of disadvantages. For example, as the ice melts, water will be present in the base of the container and must be periodically removed. Often, outlet ports are provided in such coolers to allow the melted ice to be drained. Still, for the most part, only hermetically sealed containers can be placed within the container if water damage is to be avoided. Further, to keep the contents cool for an extended period, ice must be repeatedly added.
Furthermore, because ice is required to keep the food and beverages cool, only a relatively small amount of food can actually be stored within a cooler of a given size and the weight of the cooler is significantly increased by the presence of the ice.
It has been proposed to incorporate within a cooler type container a cooling system so that when the container is coupled to a power source, food and beverages within the cooler will be automatically cooled. With such automatic cooling, there is no need for ice, and thus the container can hold more food and beverages than conventional ice chests of comparable size. The thermoelectric technology which allows a cooling system to be incorporated in a cooler was, to a significant extent, developed by NASA and eliminates the need for bulky compressors and piping. Furthermore, as an alternative to cooling, such newly developed systems can be used to warm foods by reversing the polarity of the power to the system. Because such alternative cooling/heating systems are known a detailed disclosure of the heating/cooling system is omitted herein.
With the advent of positive cooling or warming within a portable container, there has been a desire to provide a portable food container which can be used both in a conventional ice chest orientation with the lid or door on top and in an end up orientation as a "college dorm room", hotel, or office refrigerator/warming oven with a front opening door. A structure of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,937, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
While portable cooling/warming containers, such as that described in the aforementioned '937 patent, have a number of advantages, that is not to say the improvement thereof is not possible. For example, when a cooler or warmer is used as a top opening ice chest, the cooler itself provides no tray or table top structure other than the top of the top opening lid. Obviously, it is not possible to open the lid while food, beverages, or other items are setting thereupon without displacing the items. Furthermore, when such a thermoelectric unit is used in a motor vehicle, it typically presents an inconvenient and sometimes dangerous interference with passengers or the driver because of the height of the unit and is subject to tipping because of the high center of gravity thereof. In addition, thermoelectric cooler/warmers adapted for use in motor vehicles will typically have a long power cord so that the cooler/warmer may be used in the back seat of a car or in the back of a van while plugged into a cigarette lighter receptacle in the dashboard of the vehicle. It is desirable to have a means for stowing the cord when not in use or stowing excess cord when less than the whole length of cord is needed. One proposal includes cleats for wrapping the cord thereon located within a recess on a lower rear portion of the container. The cleats are not easily accessible and, because they are built within a recess formed on the main body of the container, introduce manufacturing complexities that raise manufacturing costs.
Another problem encountered with thermoelectric cooling/warming units is that the components of the thermoelectric unit (often known collectively as the "thermoelectric engine") are built into portions of the body and/or lid of the cooling/warming unit. Therefore, insertion, removal, and repair of the thermoelectric components comprising the thermoelectric engine can be difficult from a manufacturing and maintenance standpoint. Finally, it is always desirable to maximize the efficiency of a thermoelectric engine, such as that used in a cooling/warming unit.